Wednesday letters: Renewable energy, teacher pay, outrage

Copyright 2014: Houston Chronicle

Updated
10:30 pm CDT, Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Push renewable energy

Regarding "Texas' renewable energy production spins higher" (Page B6, Monday), we see that the report of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) estimates that only about 10 percent of energy consumed on its grid was generated by wind.

That's a good start, but when one looks at the situation in two sister cities here in Texas he realizes that Austin has a special piece of the ownership of its power supplier, and so its power is less costly. Additionally, Austin and San Antonio are starting to build a 15-acre solar array outside Austin whereby both their cities will benefit from a "greener" and cheaper source of electricity! There's a challenge for Houston.

About half of the energy we consume in our nation is consumed in our buildings. It is likely that most houses built in the next few years will have a solar array to provide electricity. That's already being implemented in Europe and the Middle East. How nice, if we in Houston would dare to explore these options for our community.

Regarding "HISD may stop tying extra pay to degrees" (Page A1, Friday), being a parent of two former HISD students (both of whom received their entire K-12 education within HISD), I highly valued teachers who were motivated to get advanced degrees in their fields. As a university professor, I understand well the vast difference in the knowledge and skill base of those with a bachelor's degree and those with a master's degree.

In addition to sending a strong anti-educational message, the proposal makes it obvious that the district considers testing to be the only valid way to assess learning. Given that teachers have less and less ability to control what they do in their classrooms because of all the time that is now spent teaching for tests, perhaps it is not surprising that advanced degrees do not necessarily correlate with higher test scores. Even so, advanced degrees, especially in content areas, do indicate a great amount of learning beyond the bachelor's level and greater skill in using the research methods of any particular field. All children deserve access to the most knowledgeable and highly trained teachers.

Regarding "Obama mad about false veteran data" (Page A5, Monday), we hear the president is madder than hell, but we see no action. President Obama believes the response is to throw more money at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In fact, that's what has been done since he came into office and is his usual approach to any problem he is confronted with. He doesn't want to be bothered - too busy campaigning.